I loved you, so I drew these tides of men into my hands and wrote my will across the sky in stars to earn you Freedom.
- T.E. Lawrence

All men dream: but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act out their dream with open eyes, to make it possible.
T.E. Lawrence, Seven Pillars of Wisdom

Monday, May 01, 2006

Summer Promotion....

strange, not something I've ever thought of working a promotion around....

update: I knew there was something more to this 'promotion' than met the eye...so over lunch I quizzed two of my colleagues who were well placed to answer, one a guy, the other a mother of two boys...and the explanation goes something like this...

Circumcision here is the 'norm', and apparently, once reaching the appropriate age, (seems to be somewhere around 10-12) if you have not been circumcised you can be given a fairly hard time of it by your peers, teasing is apparently rife in the locker room. It is seen as a rite of passage and therefore should be done. My male colleague asked for it to be done, the mother of two boys apparently suggested it to them at the 'right time'. As to the 'summer issue', well now it's the long school holidays and so the kids have their longest break of the year....it seems that after the 'cutting' it takes about two weeks to heal and therefore this is the longest period the kids get to allow it to heal, plus as it is seen as a rite of passage this would happen before they move up a year at school.

According to my two colleagues I must be blind not to have noticed the signs around the clinics in the malls here offering similar packages. As to it being considered the 'norm'...well Jesus was circumcised I asked how they knew that, because I hadn't remembered reading it in the Bible...heathen that I am, of course it was pointed out to me that Jesus was a Jew and therefore must have been circumcised), so that explains it...

So there you go boys and girls, I must say when I came to Manila I didn't think this was a subject I would devote a hours lunch time conversation and a blog post to!!

The Tagalog word for uncircumcized is "supot" (or something like that) and it is a grevious insult. During EDSA 2 I saw banners saying "Erap supot". I might be wrong, but it seems to me that the assumption that circumcision is the "norm" is yet another example of how the Philippines has absorbed, and even exceeded, American values.

Jakartass: That I don't know...however in the interests of research I shall ask!

Torn: From talking to my colleagues who are very open about it...it does seem they see it as the 'norm'. However from my discussion the other day it was described as having Christian origins...however according to MLQ3's post the other day, that may not be true....According to Mike Tan at last Saturday’s Ayala Museum Docent Training Program session, circumcision is a holdover from our Islamic past -the Spanish tried to forbid it, but obviously, failed.